Hi all
I would like to have your openion about something, i finished my phd last july 2007 and i am trying now to convence/push my sups to publish my phd work but so far no replies/responce. I am thinking of publishing my work by my own without their permission and write only my name one it? do think this is ethical? what to do? please advice
thanks alot

you'd better not do that
1, you may screw up your relationship with your sup who is an important network for you
2, without your sup's name in your paper, it's not easy to have it published, even published, not easy to be accepted.

i dont see what you have to lose by submitting for publication with out their name on it. if you ask your old supervisor to approve it for publication and he/she isnt interested, it is never going to be published. the worst that can happen is if you go ahead with submitting for publication without approval and the paper is rejected but this could happen with or without your supervisors name on the paper.

i know a person who has done the exact same thing you are considering. she was a postdoc who had left the group to pursue a career outside academia. she had written up a paper, but the supervisor wouldnt approve the publication so she submitted the paper without the supervisors name on it.

you may be right in saying its unethical to publish without their approval, having said that, if it is accepted for publication in a respected peer reviewed journal then it could be argued that it is unethical for your supervisor not to approve your paper for publication. if it is up to standard, there should be no reason why it shouldnt be published and the only way to find out is to submitt for publication. think about it

Publish your work as sole author unless your supervisors have any input in it. Supervisors do not have unreserved rights to your work and they are definitely not as powerful as many PhD students think.